Albert The Backpacker

San Narciso, Quezon Province (Bondoc Peninsula)

• By Albert
• July 2, 2015
• 4 Comments

 Blessed with Unsurpassed Natural Beauty 

Travelers and adventure seekers who dreams for nature  and more to being natural,  San Narciso, Quezon is a great place to discover. The quiet town of San Narciso was blessed with diverse  natural resources from extra ordinary beaches, strange rock formation, underwater experience, rugged terrain, caves, river and water fall, watersheds and serene places for relaxation and leisure.

 San Narciso called as “Natatagong Paraiso”  (Hidden Paradise) because of being rich in natural resources   but  remain undiscovered and unexplored by many travelers and adventures seekers.

Every place  is an experience to enrich to every visitors  memories.

The Rock Formations of San Narciso

There are two prominent  rock formation found  in San Narciso, that serve as a natural monuments in the municipality. The Napinto Cave and the Barkong Bato.

The two nature sculpted rock formation are geologically landscaped along the crystal clear shorelines with a hills as their backdrop. Both place are best for swimming and snorkeling.

Barkong Bato

This  rock formation is look alike  of a ship, or even a submarine, the reason it called “barkong bato” means Rock Ship, or a Rock Boat.

The rock formation is accessible by walking during low tide. Located in at the left side of San Narciso pier. The location can be reach 10 minutes by tricycle from the town proper and or by boat at around 5-10 minutes from nearby beaches,  Visitors may snorkel in the area  specially during low tide.

Napinto Cave

Napinto, is coming from the word ‘”pinto” means door or a gate, is more of a natural arch than a cave.

Within the vicinity of Napinto Cave  there a cave to explore and a place for snorkeling. 

For more details, about Napinto Cave, click  HERE

San Narciso Pier 

The pier is not a tourist destination, but from here, you will see some of the  beaches and other attractions like Batong Barko, Talisay Beach Resort.  and Bagong Tuklas Resort.

The San Narciso pier used to be a seaport in the past seasons, but because of typhoon that passed it was permanently damaged  and no longer in used.

 The Barkong Bato rock formation on the left side of Pier

The Talisay Beach and Bagong Tuklas Resort on the right side.

The spacious plains and the rugged hills behind the pier, is ideal for putting up a tent for camping, but we never  know the safety of the area, because only few people visit the place, and the place is non residential area.

 

Bagong Tuklas Beach Resort

Bagong Tuklas means New Discovery is a must to visit in San Narciso Quezon. A new resort featuring six sea caves and rock formations that made it spectacular destination.

For details about Bagong Tuklas click HERE 

The Mangrove Forest

Surprisingly, there’s  extensive mangrove forest in San Narciso with  full length strip of 8.85 kilometers that managed and develop by the municipality.

 From the beginning the mangroves trees in the municipality was protected.

Aside from the the existing mangrove forest and natural method of  reproduction of mangrove, the local government continue  initiate to conserve and restore more mangrove forest in their municipality.

Just behind the residential area in the town proper, mangroves are exist.

Mangroves helps to reduce the impacts of severe typhoon, and serve as nursery to different sea species,  Mangrove forest system and their proximity also helps as tourism potential.

The coral reefs of the municipality is potential site for diving and snorkeling.  With the past seasons where illegal fishing is a serious problem, , The municipality is vigilance  patrolling their seas through “Bantay Dagat” (sea patrol) in order to preserve the the reefs genetic diversity

According to the locals, there is distinguished diving site of the island. Within the Ragay Gulf, the Malapad Reef located near the water boundary of San Narciso and the Municipality of Buenavista and the Palad Reef that also serves as the water boundary between municipality of San Andres and San Narciso. These reefs serve as the breeding ground for variety of fishes and other marine life.

Two days are not  enough to see the hidden beauty of this town, “Natatagong Paraiso” . There are more beaches, caves, rivers and waterfalls,  just awaiting to be discovered.

Please note, that San Narciso is not yet expose to commercial tourism, there’s no material amenities available  for rent  such as swimming gadgets for diving and snorkeling. There’s also no restaurant nor small carenderia, in every destination, except mini store where you can buy limited to biscuits, soft drinks, mineral water and sitsirya.

As we observed, the local government of San Narciso, understand the importance of nature and the unique position of it and they know how to conserve it.

Time will come, this hidden paradise will no longer hidden, instead a popular place to visit, the local government of San Narciso, should develop a master plan, to control the development of the municipality without harming their natural wonders.

The Town, San Narciso

 San Narciso is a first class municipality, located in the southeastern part of Quezon Province, mostly hilly and coastal area, known as Bondoc Peninsula.

Bondoc Peninsula is consist of 12 municipalities where four of them of the are the farthest reach in Quezon, the San Andres, San Francisco, San Narciso (the third farthest) and Mulanay.

Bondoc Peninsula is once a hot spot of insurgency in the province,  some  of  the concern is the safety, where violent arms group are exist  in the region . The negative impression retained in the region that happened  in the past events in the history of the province . We know that such influence is almost instinct not only in this place but also in some part of the country that sprouts way back 1980’s and early 1990’s.

Every citizen, especially the local government,  should work together for those stumbling block that hinder the success of the tourism industry not only in Bondoc Peninsula but also in our country as a whole.

The abundance of breathtaking scenery in our country is a good substitute for the difficulties of life, where our country is always affected by natural disasters, such as typhoon, that harms our harvest  many times a year. Through tourism, the locals will benefits and improve their life in terms of tourist arrivals, local business will also improve that requires more labors.

Walking  Around the Town

In a brief  tour in the town, we observed that it looks like there’s no unpleasant experience in the past. There’s no reflection about poverty, and any negative issue,  instead a good atmosphere  and clean vicinity.

The municipality campaign “KALINISAN AT PRORESO ITO ANG SAN NARCISO” (Cleanliness and Progress, this is San Narciso) really exist and observed.

There are some historical houses within the town proper.

The San Narciso gymnasium.

The public market and the public transport grand terminal is located in one place, making it more easy for visitors to approached somebody and ask some places and destinations.

There are five lodging houses/hotels in the municipality that is walking distance from the town proper.

Since we cross, along Friends Diners Lodge, and we agreed with my fellow travelers to stay here. The room rates from Php.300 single room with electric fan  to Php.1,800.00 air-conditioned room.  We got our room, good for 4, for Php. 1,000.00 air-condition with comfort room.  For contact details and reservation look for the caretaker Tita Au 0912-326-1902 and Tita Nora- owner 0928-3120640

At first, we have a contact from the municipal hall,  unfortunately, on the third time we call them, their phone keep on ringing, and the contact person never answer us at all, till the time of our travel.

Since we don’t have itinerary, and we  know almost nothing, except the rock formation of Napinto Cave, we prefer to drop by in San Narciso police station to give a courtesy visit  and at the same time to ask  some information about the attractions and destinations in the town.

The reception from the police station is satisfying and the favor they give is highly appreciated. Special thanks to Police Officer Dionne Magpayo Caray for extending his job  as tourism employee and  for providing us information for getting around and contact persons for purpose of  our visit …

San Narciso Police Hotline 0949-730-9080 available 24/7

Our tricycle driver cum tourist guide Kuya Johnjohn, he never asked extra payment in our tour using his tricycle, he charged us according to rate per destination. CP#0920-212-6885

How to get there?

There are several bus lines from Cubao (Edsa -Kamuning, Camias) and Buendia (Near LRT Buendia Station) bound to Lucena City(Lucena Grand Terminal) such as JAC liner, Lucena Lines, DLTB and Tritrans.  From Lucena Grand Terminal there are buses bound to San Narciso such as P and O Bus lines, John Tom Bus Lines and Barney Bus Lines. For a faster travel theres also a non stop van going to San Narciso. Travel time from Lucena by bus is about 4 hours.

 

 

..

 

 

.

.

Categories: Beaches, Bondoc Peninsula, Caves, Quezon Province, Rock Formations